Sydney FC coach John Kosmina has applauded his side’s resolve in managing to come back from a goal down to win 2-1 against the Newcastle Jets at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Sydney fell behind to a well-constructed Jobe Wheelhouse goal in the 11th minute of the match but levelled the fixture just four minutes later courtesy of a header from defender Iain Fyfe following a curling Shannon Cole free-kick from 35 yards out.
Sydney then defended a number of enterprising attacks from the Jets to see out the first half before coming out in the second half and dominating proceedings to secure the winner in the 78th minute via 20-year-old substitute Brendan Gan, who finished off a slick movement that involved John Aloisi, Steve Corica and Mark Bridge.
“We were a bit sluggish in the first half but in the second half we came really good,” Kosmina said after the match.
“The good thing is we conceded a goal, it was a good goal and we could have defended it differently but we got back almost straight away and we just kept trying to play good football.”
“I don’t think they had a real creative chance in the second half – they had a few scrappy things where the ball bobbled around but we defended it really well.”
Kosmina admitted the youthful Jets attack troubled the Sydney defence in the first half but he was pleased with the way his side negated those attacks in the second 45 minutes.
“They shaped up a little bit differently than they did last week,” he said. “And they moved the ball around really well. I think we had problems down both sides at times but we corrected it and that didn’t happen in the second half.”
“We could have defended that goal a lot better but we didn’t drop our heads. We had a patchy first half but the second half we were pretty much dominant.”
Kosmina also heaped praise on the performance of Gan, who shone after coming on as a substitute for Bobby Petta in the 72nd minute of the match.
“I actually considered starting him during the week but I think it was too big an occasion for a young guy,” Kosmina said.
“He has got a lot of run in his legs as he showed out there today but it was an indication of the pace of the game that even he was out of breath towards the end of the game. He did exceptionally well.”
“He came on at the stage of the game where his energy was comfortable with what was happening on the field.”
“If it happened at the start it may have been a bit quicker and things may have happened too fast.”
“Sometimes you have to be careful with young guys sometimes you can bring them through – they can stand up or they can cop a couple of blows to their confidence.”
Sydney FC skipper Steve Corica said the much-needed victory, the team’s first in five matches, had boosted confidence among the players and put their season back on track.
“Results having been going our way,” he said. “We were in sixth spot and now we have jumped to third. We got a bit of confidence from the draw against Queensland and obviously this is going to add to it.”
